One wink at a time
by keflex
Summary: Gohan & Videl romance, a novelisation of the Great Saiyaman saga with a few changes! You will love the changes, kidz. Chapter four's here now, this is where the action starts!
1. I will dare

One wink at a time.

v

Videl Satan was not having a good morning.

It was bad enough that her jet copter wouldn't start this morning and she had been forced to walk to school, but because of this a mysterious crime fighter had beaten her to the punch, literally. Her fingers instinctively clenched around themselves. The last person to try and challenge her title as unofficial city protector had met a spectacular end; even now she could still remember the sight of his underwear through the strained and subsequently torn lycra. That had been over six months ago now, you'd figure given her recent success anyone else out there would happily step aside.

What was worse was that this guy was good. Not that Videl had seen him in action, nor did she innately trust the enthused descriptions offered to her by spectators; they regularly made bold exaggerations about her own triumphs. No, she saw all that she needed to in the looks on those criminals faces; they were scared, terrified even. One of them was visibly shaking, another's eyes widened as he mentally relived the event. Some people said that the fighter, this golden-haired fighter, had managed to catch a volley of bullets as they flew towards him. Even if they were exaggerating, that seemed more than a little bit strange.

Videl's fingers, now relaxed once more, trailed lazily along the locker frames as she walked down the corridor. Despite her copter issues, she'd still managed to beat most other students to the school; only a small amount populated the corridor, isolated specks dotting her line of sight. One of the onlookers had said the fighter was wearing an Orange Star badge; Videl didn't like the idea that this challenger was perhaps right under her very nose. It certainly sparked her interest though, as it was a rarity to find anyone of her age with any significant combat ability, let alone capable of some of the feats that had been described earlier in the day. Videl stopped herself at the door of her classroom, more out of habit than out of conscious thought.

If this newcomer really was an Orange Star kid, then she'd find him out. And once she did, she'd prove that she didn't need anyone else's help. Collaboration was for the weak, the strongest fighters stand alone.

Videl turned the doorknob, the creak echoing through the early morning schoolyard haze, and walked inside.

v

Before long, the rest of her classmates began to stream in. One by one at first, but before long they would arrive two, three, four at a time, the boys jostling their way through the doorframe loudly as they went. The room gradually filled with teenage voices and the clatter of moving chairs and desks, the topics sharing the self-imbued importance of high-school life. Boyfriends cheating on girlfriends (and vice-versa), heated debate about sporting team selection, a group of pale-faced boys in the corner discussed trading card game strategy. The variety was impressive, but the topics only proved illuminating to those who inhabited the same space as them; such is the way these conversations tend to be.

The sun was now glowing in full display, disparate streams of light pushing through the clouds and filtering across the classroom, their forms brought to life by the thin layer of dust that had come into existence since the day before. Soon, the bell would ring to signal the start of the school day. The students reluctantly started to resume their daily positions, drilled into them by endless repetition. The voices dropped off somewhat, but didn't stop entirely.

Videl hadn't really been paying much attention to those around her; they talked about the same things every day anyway, or close enough. Sitting on top of her desk in contrast to everyone else, limbs casually landing where they may, she scanned her eyes across the room for any traces of gold hair. In the end there were only two, and they were to her left and right; her two best friends Erasa and Sharpener. Cautiously she turned her eye to the latter; she didn't need to give him another reason to assume she was interested in him.

He certainly had the right sort of look that she expected the Gold Fighter (another student had mentioned the morning's event, and it sounded like this character had a name) to have, if perhaps not the right attitude. Sharpener rocked back on his chair, his smile that of slightly smug contentment. His consistent success on the school boxing team guaranteed his continued tenure at the school, and his academic performance showed this. As she mulled over the possibility that this boy could perhaps be the crime fighter she was looking for, he ran his hand through his hair and sighed contentedly. Videl frowned mentally; there's no way Sharpener had the sort of mindset to be the Gold Fighter.

"Hey Sharpener," Videl asked resolutely, looking for confirmation, "don't tell me you're the Golden Fighter."

"Oh spare me," Sharpener replied, the dismissal evident in his tone of voice, "I don't have time to play superhero. I spent all morning working out my arms." As he spoke his eyes shifted downward towards his arms, as they flexed and convulsed in an obvious bid for attention.

"So Videl, do you think this guy could be stronger than your pops?"

"What a joke, we all know Videl's dad is the strongest there is. He could knock this gold boy out by flexing his bicep."

Videl was happy for the intrusion on her conversation; Sharpener didn't so much talk to you as he did to himself. Surprisingly though, she took a moment to consider Erasa's question: was this Golden Fighter stronger than her father? It only took that one moment for her to realise how silly she was being, however. Nobody was stronger than her father, much less a mysterious teenager whose name she didn't even know.

There was no time to point this out to her friend though; as the teacher walked into the classroom Videl sunk into position behind her desk and looked down at him, only partially feigning attention. The rest of the class followed suit.

They got the usual spiel: new student, excellent marks, you could all learn from his shining example, et cetera. Normally the teachers would embellish the students results some in order to make them seem more impressive, and by extension make the other students feel a bit more guilty about their own results and study harder. The guilt part happened often enough, but it never tended to translate into better classroom etiquette; one of the boys in the back row had shouted out "Example this!" and been met with raucous approval from the collective. This guy seemed to actually have the smarts to back up what the teacher was saying about him though; "Perfect scores on all his entry exams", that's not the sort of claim you can make without being able to prove it. So the new guy was smart, that much was obvious. But there was something else...

"That's weird, he looks familiar..."

Sharpener's self-assured chuckle interrupted Videl's train of thought, "He was probably on a TV spelling bee."

The new student was now scanning his eyes across the classroom nervously, looking for a vacant seat. Videl had never had to go through the process herself, but it hardly could have been a desirable one. All those unfamiliar faces, the uncertainty with which you make your selection, the feeling that said selection could influence your social standing within the grade for the rest of your schooling life. She didn't envy this new student one bit, grades or not.

Erasa stood and motioned to the vacant seat next to her, "Yoo hoo, new boy! Here's a seat."

As the boy politely thanked her and made his way across the room, Videl felt a bit surprised. Erasa was hardly a reserved person, but this was a rather bold gesture even for her. Maybe she'd taken a liking to this particular boy, she thought she'd heard Erasa comment that he was "a cutie" when he walked in. At the very least, the boy wouldn't have to worry about his social standing; while they were hardly the most popular kids in the grade, Videl, Erasa & Sharpener certainly sat comfortably on the upper half of the ladder.

You can tell a lot about someone from their posture and how they carry themselves, Videl always thought. Erasa would almost jump more than walk, excitedly shifting from leg to leg when standing in one place. Sharpener often walked around with broad shoulders, his head resting unnaturally high. Videl knew she should probably be a bit less hard on Sharpener, he was a good friend when he wasn't on display in front of everyone else in the class. Ever since he'd begun to show an interest in her though, she'd found it a lot easier to simply focus on his negative qualities. She mentally shook her head clear of its current occupations and refocused on the new student, Gohan she had heard someone say his name was.

His stride was casual, but purposeful. Much like Sharpener, his shoulders stood tall and wide, an example of good posture that stood in strong contrast to the hunched-over slackness of the student body. Coupled with what she had seen of the boys manners and heard of his academic prowess, it seemed that this Gohan was polite, meek and had a good streak of self-confidence; all things Videl looked for in people she spent time with. So far, so good. But she wasn't sure just where she had seen him yet, and this was beginning to annoy her. A frown began to make its way across her face, one that only intensified when she saw Erasa was still standing, affording Gohan a look that suggested near-infatuation. She'd only just seen him! Plus if they ended up together, it'd just be her & Sharpener who were single, and that was a future Videl didn't really want to have to deal with. She was getting ahead of herself though; maybe Gohan didn't even want to join their group.

"Nice to meet you."

"I'm Erasa, with an 'E', and this is my friend Videl!" The words sounded almost comically enthused; she must have really wanted to make a good impression.

Gohan looked at Videl and gasped instinctually; had he recognised her as well? Or perhaps he just knew who both she and her father were, and was only minutes away from running his mouth off with phrases like "You're the coolest!", "Wow, I can't believe I'm talking to Videl Satan!" and "Your dad's so strong, do you think he'd let me train with him?". She was used to it by now, so it wasn't necessarily irritating; it was just typical.

"Gohan, you wanna know who Videl's pop is, you'll be surprised!" Erasa asked as Gohan took his seat, "She's the daughter of Mr. Satan!"

"What, Hercule Satan?" Oh great, here it comes.

"Yep, the one and only, I knew you'd be surprised!" Videl was used to this as well by now; Erasa piggybacking off of her own fame. She didn't really mind though, to be honest it helped to deflect some of the questions away from Videl herself.

"Well that must be neat, you being a celebrity's daughter and all." Gohan was trying the gentle opening, it looked like. Some guys would simply start sounding off as soon as they heard the name Hercule, others would feign interest in Videl herself before getting onto the real topic.

"Our Videl is a special gal, of course, being the friend of a daughter of a celebrity is pretty good too, you know." Wow, Erasa had gotten better at this; it looked like Videl might not even need to contribute this time at all. What was more important though was that Videl had finally realised where she'd seen Gohan before, she was surprised it had taken her so long; she blamed it on the Gold Fighter.

"So you're the guy!" Gohan flinched involuntarily at Videl's abrupt tone, it was definitely a marked changed from the casual conversation they'd been having, "Yeah, you're the guy that I talked to outside of the bank this morning."

"Yes, I am." He seemed mildly relieved, as if he'd been expecting something much worse to follow Videl's original lines. That seemed a bit strange.

"Wow, right after the Gold Fighter vanished." Erasa piped up, phrasing her words more like a statement than a question.

"Who, the Gold Fighter? Is he a celebrity too?"

"Where are you from, you're out of the gossip loop," Erasa had once again taken control of the conversation, which was fine by Videl. She may have recognised Gohan, but there was still something else bugging her, "He's a crime fighter with super strength and magic powers. They say he looks like a teenage boy except he has glowing golden hair. Everyone's talking about it!"

At this last sentence, Gohan's teeth clenched and his head sunk towards the desk. Suddenly the poise he'd possessed previously vanished, replaced by a nervous anxiety. Why would he care about the Gold Fighter, anyway? Unless...Videl looked across at Gohan. He didn't look much like a fighter himself, although it was hard to tell with his long-sleeved shirt and everything. Besides, with his grades the way they were he probably didn't even have time to think about fighting.

Still, when you thought about it it all came together rather neatly; new crime fighter, new student. That was hardly enough evidence to go on though, and there was still the obvious issue that Gohan clearly didn't have gold hair. Then again, those fighters in the Cell Games videos turned their hair gold too, although Dad said it was just a cheap trick. That aside though, it seemed like an avenue worth exploring, especially when considered in light of one other piece of information Videl had neglected to recall until now...

"Gohan, I remembered something," Videl cut through the silence resolutely, "What the Gold Fighter was said to be wearing. It was a white shirt, a black vest, and red pants. Sound familiar?" As Videl rattled off this checklist – which Gohan satisfied completely – she made a point of using her eyes to point at each individual garment as she named it, compounding Gohan's apparent worry. Truthfully, she wasn't completely sure that the Gold Fighter had been said to be wearing the items in question; she may have mixed the colours around or something. But that was besides the point; she was trying to trap Gohan and she didn't feel she was doing a bad job of it either. Gohan looked down at his own outfit in a state of almost-panic, Videl was sure she was onto something.

"Hey, that's funny! You and the Gold Fighter dress alike!" Just like that, Erasa had given Gohan an out. Videl frowned mentally, all that work for nothing. Not that it had been a great deal of work, but it was still more than a little frustrating.

"Oh yeah, funny!" Nervous laughter accompanied Gohan's words.

"You three in the back, pay attention!" The teacher had apparently had enough for one class. Defeated, Videl turned her head down to the textbook in front of her. She would try again though; it was pretty obvious that Gohan was hiding something, and she had her suspicions as to what it might be.

But even if hypothetically Gohan was the Gold Fighter, then what? Would she tell him to back off, that this was her city and she didn't need his help? She definitely had no intention of forming any sort of alliance with the Gold Fighter, whoever they might be. Would she reveal their identity to the world? Again, Videl wasn't sure. Personally she'd never bothered trying to conceal who she was because she was already famous by association when she decided to assist the police force; it didn't affect her. Perhaps the Gold Fighter wished to keep his two lives separate; perhaps by forming an identity that solely related to his crime fighting he was keeping others safe. His family, his friends.

Videl decided to finally try and actually learn something from the lesson; a quick glance at the clock revealed that half of it had elapsed already. There were too many questions about the Gold Fighter, and about Gohan himself that needed to be answered. Maybe she shouldn't try to back him into a corner, maybe she should try and approach him on his own level. That seemed like a better approach.

From then until the bell, Videl systematically undertook her classwork.

v

Gohan's hands clutched the strap of his satchel bag as he walked out of the school, still not completely at ease even though the day was over. All things considered, he'd managed to get out of it alright; it was miraculous that nobody had really called him out on anything as yet, given some of the mistakes he'd made. He couldn't say it with absolute certainty, but he was pretty convinced after watching the baseball match that jumping 25 feet into the air was a rare occurrence amongst kids his age. He'd have to be even more wary than he had been.

It's not like the day had simply been a series of mistakes though; in fact, it seemed like he'd even made a few friends. Erasa had been welcoming from the start – perhaps a little too welcoming for Gohan's liking – and by the end of the day Sharpener had become convinced that Gohan was an alright guy, even if it was purely because he seemed to have an inhuman ability to take a punch after the second baseball incident. Inhuman was the best word for it, really.

Videl was different though. After the interrogation in the morning she hadn't bothered to try again, but she still didn't seem relaxed around him. Occasionally he would look over at her and see her doing the same, her eyes holding an accusatory stare. It was pretty obvious what she wanted to accuse him of, even if she hadn't exactly done so just yet. It would probably only be a matter of time until she did.

Gohan sighed, his hands falling to his sides as he left the school grounds and walked along the footpath. He looked ahead but didn't really take much notice of his surroundings, his mind was thinking about other things; there was a whole year to absorb the scenery anyway. If only he hadn't gone past the bank this morning, none of this would have happened! That was a pretty flawed logic though; if he hadn't gone past the bank this morning there'd be a band of robbers out there who were tens of thousands of dollars richer.

He didn't regret the decision, he just regretted the context he had to make such decisions in. There was no way he would simply stand idly by and allow crimes to happen when he had the ability to prevent them, especially when preventing them was hardly a difficult task. Everything would be that much easier if he didn't have his mother and brother to think about. Maybe Videl would get it, maybe the accusations simply stemmed from not knowing as opposed to an inherent dislike of the idea of the Gold Fighter. Anything was possible, Gohan barely knew anything about her.

It looked like that was about to change though, Gohan knew she was walking behind him at what she must have thought was a safe distance. Maybe she was going to try and follow him? He did live five hours away, that probably seemed more than a little bit suspicious to her. And he'd walked a good distance away from the school by now as well, with the car-park they have there it was unlikely that any student would need to walk this far to get to their car. He should have known this! Now he was backed into a corner, he tried thinking of an excuse...

"Gohan." Videl's voice called from right behind him. She was faster than he'd thought. Gohan turned around slowly, trying his best to hide his nervousness.

"Oh, hey Videl." As he caught a look at her face he noticed that she seemed less guarded, a bit uncertain even. Maybe this would play out differently than he had thought.

"Look, I want to apologise for how I came across this morning. Being the new kid at school must be tough, and I had no business making it harder by throwing accusations at you. So yeah, I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Gohan smiled a little; he was glad to have been wrong.

"I'll be straight with you Gohan; I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, and on the whole you seem like a good person, so I'd like to extend this same courtesy to you. But I can't help shake the feeling that you have something to hide; after all, between the 25-foot jump and the throw and the ball hitting you in the face...," Videl couldn't help but chuckle at the memory of  
the horror on Sharpener's face before he saw that Gohan was unharmed, "Whether it's anything to do with the Gold Fighter or not, for it to be so apparent so quickly means it's probably pretty big." She sat down on the concrete fence running alongside them, and motioned for him to do the same. With a slight degree of hesitation, he complied.

"We only just met today, so I don't expect you to go out on any limbs right away. But I want you to know that I find it really hard to make friends with people who keep things from me. It looks like we might end up being in the position to become friends, and so-"

"Okay." Gohan paused deliberately, toying with the idea of doing exactly what she had not expected him to. He certainly had a long story to tell her if he chose to, but it was a story that would not only take her by complete surprise, but perhaps even damage her relationship with her father, not that he knew anything about said relationship. He couldn't do that, not now at least.

"You've got me, I was never a good liar. I am hiding something, but I'm doing it for a good reason. Several good reasons, actually. I'd like to trust you Videl, I really would. Maybe I will before long, but for now I need to make sure. I hope you can understand that, and that you can respect my privacy, at least for a little bit." The two had both rested their backs against opposite pillars while sitting, their feet meeting in the middle. As Gohan spoke, he looked at her what what he hoped was enough conviction to placate her.

Videl smiled slowly. "Alright Gohan, you win for now. But I'm expecting one hell of a story when you eventually decide to man up and tell me, you got it?"

"Don't forget, there was a creative writing section to that test I got perfect scores on."

She stood up, and offered him her hand. He laughed slightly, and took it as he followed her lead.

"Hey Gohan, there's one more thing I need to know."

"Sure thing."

"Why are you walking home when it's 500 miles to get there?"

Gohan should have given her more credit, she was always going to ask that. But the question didn't make him panic like he thought it would, because she hadn't forced his hand. Videl may not have necessarily empathised with his situation – after all, how could she? - but she understood it. It seemed like he might have been wrong about her, and he was happy to be. Maybe he should venture out at least a little bit.

"You'll know before long." He replied as he started walking again, leaving her standing alone and wondering just what Gohan could tell her that would explain it all.

v

Author's Note:

While reading through the rather large amount of GxV fanfictions around, I noticed a common trend: the majority of authors ended up inserting their own characters or narrative arcs into their stories. I can't necessarily fault that; we're all here to write something we like and to be fair, a lot of these stories were in fact very good.

The problem is though, they weren't what I was looking for; I was looking for a story that took the events that happen within the show itself and expand on them and the characters involved within them. To that end, I've taken a lot of inspiration from Together We Stand, an Evangelion fanfiction by Hotwire that I read when I must have been 12 or so.

The key happenings that take place in the next few chapters will be directly adapted from the show itself, however the context they find themselves in might be a bit different. What began as more or less a novelisation of Gohan Goes to High School became something else by the end of the chapter, and I'm looking to continue along those lines. What always irked me within the show was the complete about-face Videl undertakes during the Tournament, and the Videl I present to you guys is going to be a fair bit different as a result.

I haven't written anything for a couple of years now, and I'm doing this as much to simply write something as for my enjoyment of the show itself. But I do love the Gohan-Videl coupling, and hopefully that's already become apparent within the first chapter. Don't expect updates to happen often, but do expect the ones that happen to show this love.


	2. Seen your video

You'll know before long...that wasn't fair. It wasn't a big deal if he wanted to be a little bit reserved – it was his first day at school, after all – but he didn't have to tease her like that. Now she wouldn't be able to stop thinking about him, about his secrets. Videl was on her way home, her feet taking her there subconsciously and her head slumped as her mind busied itself with other things.

It had taken the best part of a day, but Gohan had finally revealed something of himself. In more ways than one too; Videl was surprised that he'd managed to be so casual and approachable, funny even once you got him into a conversation. Outside of that one brief encounter he'd seemed removed from the day's proceedings, sure he'd been polite enough but it had been hard for anyone to coax any sort of lengthy responses out of him. Probably just first-day jitters.

Besides, it's not like she'd really tried herself. Videl shook her head; she'd kept her distance from Gohan for most of the day because she wanted to make sure she'd have the time to say everything she wanted to without interruption. It probably made her seem somewhat stand-offish, and that hadn't been her intention at all. Hopefully their little talk this afternoon would help smooth things over.

She was surprised that she was taking so much of an interest in Gohan, usually when a new student joined the class she'd join the others in exchanging pleasantries but it would tend to end there. You could probably chalk it up to Erasa, all things considered; she'd seemed to really take a liking to Gohan. Videl couldn't really see why this was the case; up until fifteen minutes or so ago she hadn't really found much to like about Gohan. Not much to dislike either, mind, but all the same...in any case, she was glad to be mistaken.

Videl's feet had almost carried her right into the cast-iron gate blocking the entrance to Satan Manor. Luckily she thought to look up at the last second and found herself not two centimetres away from a solid, metal pole. Videl tensed at the realisation, backing away slowly as she walked over to the side to swipe her security pass.

"Damn it gate, you took away my family and now you've come for me too!" She remembered her father making the same very mistake a couple of days ago when they were coming home from dinner, too busy with conversation to pay attention. He'd still had a bump on his head from it this morning.

Had her father heard about the Gold Fighter? Maybe he knew who it was, or maybe he could tell her a bit more about the men at the Cell Games who could change their hair colour. He probably knew something; when it came to fighting her dad had seen it all. The gate clunked open methodically and Videl sidled through the opening as it made itself available. She couldn't wait to get inside the house and tell him everything.

v

It had been a long time since the Flying Nimbus was used this frequently, and it was clear the little cloud enjoyed the attention. Skimming happily across the sky, gliding headlong into flocks of wild birds and causing them to scatter, the contrast between vehicle and owner could not be more apparent. Gohan noticed Nimbus' behaviour and was glad to see it was excited, but he himself was too distracted to join in the fun.

Gohan had always been an intrinsically trusting person, he typically assumed the best of people and had faith in their ability to be good. He knew himself that it was a bit silly, that he was a bit too idealistic for his own good, but it kept him in high spirits and seemed infinitely more preferable than cynicism. Even so, he was surprised he'd let on as much as he had with Videl.

Should he trust her? That was a good question. One one hand, she was the daughter of Hercule Satan, a man who had shown himself to be a more than capable liar when the need arose. On the other, it would be crazy to assume a "like father, like daughter" occurrence in her case, and she had certainly seemed genuine. Hercule would mask his statements in generic male bravado and egotism, Videl had been open and up-front about everything.

Perhaps too up-front for someone she'd just met, though Gohan didn't think so. His knowledge of adolescent life was almost solely gained from the odd TV show, and most everyone in his life was someone he could trust with intimate details of any situation. As it stood, he had no reason to believe Videl would act any differently, and to be honest he liked the idea of someone at the school knowing his secret; it was draining to keep something of that magnitude covered up to everyone.

The only thing standing in the way of him doing this was what it might do to Videl herself. Problem was he didn't know if she knew the truth about the Cell Games, if she did then there was no problem at all but if she didn't, well...he didn't want to be the one to break it to her; "Oh hey Videl, just an FYI your dad's been lying to you for seven years okay well see ya" probably wasn't the most responsible thing to do in this situation.

Suddenly Nimbus stopped in place. Gohan finally paid a bit of attention to where he was and noticed he was right in front of the Capsule Corporation building, the dome-shaped enclosure blocking out the late-afternoon sun and pushing a long-drawn shadow across his immediate surrounds. Gohan looked down at the yellow cloud and smiled; it may have been a while since they'd spent a lot of time together, but Nimbus really knew what he was thinking.

He disembarked and walked up to the automatic doors, hearing them buzz and whir outwards as he approached. Bulma had frequently proven herself to be a good source of advice with teenage problems, his own mother had been too distracted by his academic progress for him to be able to run things by her. All those sorts of embarrassing puberty-related queries had been fielded by Bulma, which made Chi-Chi happy as she had no idea what to say and really didn't want to say it, and made Bulma happy because she'd always liked Gohan and figured it was good practice for when Trunks grew up anyway.

Maybe she'd be able to help him out this time.

v

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

It was like this every time. Erasa would yelp and cover her eyes with her hands, Sharpener would grin mindlessly, his fellow motorists would honk their horns and yell angrily; to be honest, "Hey, watch where you're going" seemed like a compliment compared to some of the other things that had been said to them.

"Red light, red light!"

"I see it! Just calm down, would you?"

The car screeched to a halt, its weather-beaten blue frame shuddering as it did. Erasa allowed herself a small sigh of relief; the first moment's peace after many agonising minutes.

"So Erasa, you seemed awfully cosy with the new guy today."

It looked like she might have sighed too soon. "It was his first day! What, you didn't expect me to try and bring him down a peg or five every chance I got like you did, did you?"

"Someone's got to keep people in their place."

"Or what, they'll come after you and your boxing titles? You shouldn't assume the worst of people Sharpener, it's just going to mean that you wind up friendless and alone. Except for me and Videl, I guess."

Sharpener remembered how he'd been towards Erasa herself when they'd both started high school. When you're a thirteen year-old boy, girls are weird. Girls are weird, and it's easier to think of them that way then to actually present yourself with the reality that nowadays you like them, especially if you were one of those boys who spent their pre-teen years pulling heads off dolls and the like. Sharpener had been one of those boys, and so his behaviour towards girls at the start of high-school essentially became more of the same, but more defiant, more vicious. Defence mechanism? Perhaps, but he wouldn't tell you that.

The only girl to stand up to him had been Erasa. It might have been four years ago, but he still remembered what she'd said that day.

"Grow a dick, Sharpener."

And then she punched him in the stomach. Hard. It knocked the wind right out of him, partly because Erasa had gone through a growth spurt long before Sharpener did but also partly out of sheer surprise; no girl had ever fought back against him. Sharpener soon after joined the school boxing team, but he would never be as outwardly aggressive as he had been again.

Erasa looked over at Sharpener, who'd been sitting quiet for a little while, glancing absently at the traffic lights.

"Hey, anyone home?"

Sharpener looked back at her and smiled. "Yeah, he's just thinking back on some things. Listen, you might be right about Gohan. I don't know, maybe it's just because of the whole Videl thing that I was acting out a bit today."

"I knew it! Plus that line you dropped earlier this morning. "I spent all morning working out my arms"? Please! Who were you trying to impress?" Erasa sported a sardonic grin, clearly enjoying this turn of events.

"Well it's not like it was a lie!"

"That's great, but it's still not what Videl wants to hear!"

"I guess I'm still not good at that sort of thing." Sharpener hadn't really ever had anything approximating a relationship himself, and a big part of that was because he'd never really been interested in trying it. Until Videl had come along, of course.

Erasa looked over at him with concern. "Hey, chin up mister. We both know Videl well enough to know that she doesn't hide a lot of things, so I'm not about to fill you with false confidence here. But you gave it a shot, and that's better than mulling it over for the rest of your life. This time might not have worked out, but others will. It's not like you're unattractive, and most girls are into the big, strong guys. You just happened to pick the only girl in school who's stronger than you are."

Sharpener chuckled a little; all Videl ever had to do win an argument with him these days was challenge him to a fight. It was hardly fair, but it was better than accepting.

"So you think I'm attractive then?" asked Sharpener with a victorious smirk across his face

Erasa sighed once more. "Your light's gone green, hot shot."

The car roared to life once more, as did the voices of the drivers around it. Erasa spent the rest of the trip home strongly considering taking the test for her own driver's license.

v

"It's nice that you've come to me with girl troubles this time, Gohan. Not that I minded dealing with your 'personal issues', but this is something I have a bit more experience in," An embarrassed gulp made its way down Gohan's throat; it looked like he might never live down some of the conversations he'd had with Bulma in the past, "I suppose the first thing I need to know is what is she like? I'm guessing she's not at all like her father, or you wouldn't bother coming to see me about her."

Bulma sipped on her coffee and awaited Gohan's response; she knew it might take him a couple of seconds to get past the whole 'personal issues' thing. Making teenagers uncomfortable was like shooting fish in a barrel. To look at the boy now and the boy of seven years ago one would see a rather large difference not only in appearance, but in disposition. She was almost tempted to think of Gohan as a man had he not been coming to her with a problem that was deeply mired in adolescence.

As a child, being constantly surrounded by adults made Gohan seem perhaps overly childish by comparison. Not that you could blame him, he had been a child after all. But it was because of the company he kept and the situations he was presented with that not only did his own maturation seem less apparent, but it was also more advanced than others of his age. You would have been hard-pressed to realise it at times, but sitting in her living room and acting out of deep concern for someone he had only just met Bulma was confronted with the reality that Gohan was in fact far more developed mentally than she had thought he was. It was a good thing; too many teenagers these days seemed hopelessly self-interested. Surprises like this were most welcome.

"Let me see, well she doesn't seem to have her father's showmanship. She seems more utilitarian in her approach to things, more structured and focused. She certainly shares his desire to be seen as the best though. She's considerate, as you might have guessed from what I just told you before. She's also prone to let her feelings get the best of her, again as you might have guessed. I guess my reservations stem from the fact that she shares a passion for martial arts with her father, which suggests a pretty strong relationship, even if I can't say for sure. If I come out and tell her that her father didn't save the planet, and not only isn't the strongest fighter in the world but isn't even close, it means she'd have to probably end up re-evaluating a fair few things. And I'm not entirely sure that's a fair thing to do to someone, even if all I'm doing is telling the truth."

"Well that was a mouthful. You've been thinking about this a fair bit, haven't you?"

Gohan smiled nervously. "Uh, yeah, a little."

"What I want to know is how you managed to find out this much about the girl when you've only been at school for a day."

"It's not exactly hard to find things out about the city's most prolific crime-fighter. I learned most of that just from overhearing conversations in hallways."

"I guess that's not surprising, everyone in Satan City knows at least something about Videl."

"All the more reason to get this right, I hardly want to be in the bad books with someone that well-known."

"You might have to take that risk though, Gohan. I'm guessing you want to be friends with this girl, yes?"

"Yeah." His voice belied the meaning behind the word. Kids could be so easy to read when they weren't thinking about what they were saying.

"And surely you agree with me that friendships are built on trust?"

"Okay, I see where you're going with this."

"I know you do, you're a clever kid. But I'll blurt it out anyway; you have to have faith that she'll understand everything, because that's what friends do. Is it responsible to burden someone with potentially destructive information when it's not necessary? Perhaps. But I'd say a worse thing to do would be to let that person carry on living their life oblivious to the facts. Put simply, Videl knows something's up. The alternative here is to make up some half-truth to give to her, and either she'll see through it and your stock'll plummet, or you'll have simply started weaving a more and more intricate web for yourself, and trust me when I say that such things can get exhausting after a while. Besides, she seems willing to listen. It might suck, but it's the lesser of two evils."

"On the topic of mouthfuls..."

"What can I say, I'm a giver." Bulma looked over at Gohan, who was considering her opinion. There was another nice change, a male who actually gave her words some credence. She didn't always get the privilege in her house.

"Alright Bulma, you win. To be honest I was hoping you'd say the exact opposite of what you did, but you can't fight fate. I'll figure something out." Gohan spoke with resignation in his voice, but there was a slight relief as well. When it was all said and done, he'd be happy that there was just a regular person in the city who knew the score.

"You should just feel lucky I've avoided the obvious question, Gohan."

"What question is that?"

"Well, this is an awful lot of trouble to go through for one girl..."

"It's not like that! It's just...it's only been one day and already she's been more honest with me than I expected anyone to be for some time. I figured starting off at a high school would mean it'd take a while for people to open up to me, she's gone and done it in one day. I like that, I like that someone's willing to go out on a limb for a near-stranger. I should probably hang onto somebody like that."

Gohan himself displayed many of the qualities he'd identified in Videl, and now was a prime example of it. To show this level of appreciation, understanding and empathy at his age was pretty impressive, especially when you consider that he'd spent the majority of his life removed from the circumstances that children find themselves in which lead to growth in these areas. Now he was in the thick of it, and while he might have some growing pains at first Bulma had no doubts Gohan would flourish in such a setting. She was proud of him, on occasion she felt like she was his godmother and right now was one of those times. Videl would be crazy to pass this up.

"Hey Bulma, there's still one other thing I wanted to ask you."

Bulma looked up sharply, her inner machinations had caused her to tilt her head towards the ground. "Sure thing, what is it?"

"It's about the whole Gold Fighter thing..."

v

"Good night, Mr. Satan."

"Good night to you too, Adam."

It was the same every night, and that was the way Hercule Satan liked it. Adam had been his personal servant for most of the last seven years, and Hercule had grown used to the nightly routine. He rather liked Adam, indeed if he hadn't the man wouldn't have stayed employed for as long as he had. Adam was knowledgeable, succinct and polite; everything you could ask for in a servant. Hercule slid open the glass door to the balcony and stepped outside.

Tonight was cold, the winter breeze lingered in the air and stuck to his arms. He began to wonder if perhaps it was time to wear more weather-appropriate clothing, although it would probably help if his wardrobe wasn't so resolutely singular in its contents. In any case, it's not like anything could be helped tonight. He placed his hands in his pockets to warm them and looked out across the cityscape.

Satan Manor stood on a hill overlooking Satan City just outside the city limits, and so it offered a perfect view of everything the city had to offer, now dotted by streetlight and illuminated windows arranged in no discernible pattern, but all winking and glinting with the mystery and allure and possibility that cities present to their inhabitants and which make them seem so appealing. From the house one could see Orange Star High School, various different parks and playgrounds, the industrial district bordering the coast. In the distance you could see the Diabolo Desert stretching as far as the eye could see in one direction, contrasted by grassy foothills and knolls in the opposite. Far, far into those hills stood the arena where the Cell Games had once taken place, the decision being made by the Satan City Council to preserve the arena as it was to be an eternal symbol of Earth's triumph.

The legacy of the Cell Games had been what allowed Hercule to consolidate his celebrity, his apparent victory had started a commercial empire which had left its figurehead very well-off indeed. Action figures, gym franchises, clothing, accessories; Hercule had utilised them all to build upon his successes. Perhaps most dramatic was the change in school sporting habits, soon after the Games ended students worldwide had begun to take a sudden interest in martial arts. The Games had become a global advertisement of sorts for fighting as a legitimate sporting interest, overtaking others such as cricket and football in rapid succession. Hercule was very proud of this, and saw the subsequent evolution of martial arts into a widespread spectator sport as one of his greatest achievements.

It had been a while since he'd thought of such things, but Videl's comments earlier today had given him reason to re-assess his recent years. He'd reconciled himself with the inevitable guilt that arises from such far-reaching lies as the ones he had told the media by saying to himself that if the fighters who really defeated Cell wished for the fame and fortune it had brought him, they would make themselves known. It's not like Satan Manor was hidden away from sight, quite the opposite; in fact, Hercule had subconsciously made requests about the house's location and design to make it more conspicuous to the city newcomer. Seven years had passed and none of them had presented themselves to him, and so Hercule believed the cause to be lost, and had resigned himself to his high-profile, heavily-burdened fate.

Because when it came down to it, Hercule knew that despite his vigorous claims at the Games themselves, nothing he had seen could have been a trick. Sure, the general public might have believed it, if they believed Hercule himself, a mere human, strong though he was, to have defeated Cell, then it only stood to reason that they would believe his other claims as well. But how could one feign flying? Change their hair colour at will? Fight with such uncompromising, blistering speed that the human eye couldn't follow it? There had been something different about the fighters there on that day, and while Hercule had tried at times in the years since them to emulate their techniques in private, he hadn't been able to. Perhaps if he ever met one of them again, he would ask them. If they even deigned to speak to him, that is.

What was hardest about the ordeal was the constant lies he had to say to Videl. He didn't mind anywhere near as much when dealing with the people; he could just throw up a V sign and talk himself up a little – or a lot – and they'd lap it up. But he didn't have that luxury with Videl, he was her father and with that came the responsibility to be honest. As far as he knew, she thought he was so. It was that knowledge primarily that had eaten at Hercule for many years now, and continued to do so.

He often considered telling her the truth. She wouldn't let him down and reveal his secret to the world, he knew that much. But the lie had gone on for so long now that revealing it to be as much could be devastating to their relationship, and fame had already cost him one of those. Not that he wanted to think about that, mind you; the old adage that 'time heals all wounds' had always seemed questionable at best to him and now, well, it seemed patently ridiculous.

Hercule shook his head violently as if to rid it of its contents and took one last look up at the sky before heading back inside. As the sound of the door sliding shut echoed through the room and the wide expanses of corridor beyond, he wondered if the house both he and Videl shared was too large for the two of them; it was too easy to find yourself feeling isolated. But the house also served as a monument to his life's accomplishments, a monolithic testament to the world's idolatry for an individual who was at best a mere opportunist.

It was exhausting being Hercule Satan.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the manor Videl Satan sat wide-eyed in front of a hushed television screen, blanket wrapped around her like a cloak and ears ever-vigilant for external noises; she wasn't technically doing anything wrong, but she couldn't help but feel she was betraying her father a little by re-watching the Cell Games footage from all those years ago. She was only watching out of curiosity, but that didn't completely nullify the pangs of guilt that coursed through her at occasional intervals.

Debris swirled around the arena violently, and it was clear from the shaking of the camera that the cameraman had not been able to completely rid himself of the fear that overtook every man & woman alive at the time. The very air seemed to rattle and rumble uncontrollably, punctuated by occasional flashes of light and sound and the breathless gasps of his fellow newspeople, all clearly at a loss to explain the phenomena they were bearing witness to.

But where was Cell? Where was Cell's opponent? Videl knew they were there, but try as she might she simply could not see either of the two. She dragged herself across the carpet softly, trying to avoid making a sound as she squinted up at the monitor, willing her eyes to see something more. Suddenly she heard a loud, resolute yell come from nowhere and she instinctively muted the volume at the disturbance. Just as she did this, the two she was looking for came immediately, suddenly, unexplainably into full view.

She had almost forgotten what Cell looked like, as indeed had many other onlookers; over time their memories had morphed and distorted him into a vile, gnarled, disgusting creature. In reality he appeared in a bizarre way almost human; he stood upright in the air, hovering over his combatant, his smirk a clear indicator of his boundless egotism and baseless contempt. Videl felt no revulsion at seeing Cell's image again, what would have been so was instead replaced by a mixture of surprise and curiosity. He was covered in what appeared to be a yellow light, emanating from his body and rippling and contorting in a jagged, inextricable pattern.

The other fighter did not possess any similar sort of aura, if that's what you called it - truthfully Videl had no idea what it was or what you called it – however his hair was the exact colour Videl had been expecting, it glowed a bright, almost fierce gold as it swayed back and forth, guided by the seemingly endless breeze. Taking notice of the situation the two were in she only now realised that their mouth were moving, they were talking to each other. She turned the dial upwards a fraction of an inch, not wanting to overly disturb the silence that hung in the room.

...Still nothing. She pushed the knob even further, the crackles and static of the scene permeating her surroundings as she yelped internally at the intrusion; she really hoped nobody was nearby. Finally some voices became audible, only just able to be heard over the encompassing noise. Videl perked her ears up and listened intently.

"...great invisible champion?" Even at such a low volume the sarcasm in Cell's voice was apparent.

"Oh he's here, he just doesn't know it yet." The man seemed calm, even amused in his delivery. He was clearly toying with Cell to a degree. It almost seemed like he held a sort of quiet confidence, or perhaps he had simply made his peace with the supposed finality of the situation.

"I am losing my patience, Goku. Say the name!"

This was why Videl had rifled around in her father's video library – he was meticulous in recording all his media appearances – earlier that day. It had been seven years since she'd seen the footage, and at the time she was only a child; she didn't understand the severity of it nor completely commit the events to memory.

"Alright, I will."

What she did know was that there was a young, golden-haired boy in amongst the unnamed group attending the Games. She wasn't at all sure of his age, but it certainly made sense that he be the first port of call when considering teenage males with superhuman abilities.

"Guys, I'm afraid I can't win this fight. I need someone to take over."

He had even placed himself in the ring to fight, though nobody watching had been able to see the eventual outcome. Her father claimed he was defeated shortly after the transmission ended, but Videl allowed the solitude of her current actions to cloud her perceptions. These two had been flying, causing light to ripple across the sky, attacking each other with such speed as to be imperceptible, at least that's what it seemed like to Videl. What else could they have been doing? How was this possible? Everything that appeared on the screen seemed like a fantasy to her. Her mouth dropped ever so slightly as she forgot to maintain composure of herself, instead she remained fixated on the happenings taking place in front of her.

"That someone is you, son."

The camera zoomed in on the person in question, the cameraman having noticed that everyone in the group had turned to face this individual. There was no doubt about it, he was the one Videl had been looking for. His hair followed the same patterns as the first man, – who was apparently his father - his eyes the same colour. Much like his father, his face also shared an almost spectral quality, radiating light softly and providing the air around him with a dim glow.

Videl pressed the fast-forward button and crossed her legs, her previous anxiety at being discovered now an anxiety to see more of this boy, this boy who she believed to be the Gold Fighter. Not a lot was happening, people within the group were exchanging words that were too far away to hear. Videl began to tap her foot impatiently, its impact mercifully absorbed by the thick flooring. Finally a flash of light took the television by surprise, and Videl pressed play once more.

It was coming from the boy; much like Cell he was surrounded by a yellowish field of light. His cries filled the room and again Videl found herself reaching for the volume; in her anticipation she had almost forgotten what time it was and whose trust she was questioning. But she didn't press pause.

The camera remained focused on his face, the gasps of the cast, crew & fighters barely able to be heard over the boy's piercing voice. Finally he stopped, and he stared up at Cell with an intensity that almost made Videl shift back from her current position. His eyes that had before seemed so peaceful were now cold and sharp, they almost seemed to fill the entirety of the screen with their icy glare. Videl pressed pause, and despite the boy's firm and challenging look, despite the sheer impossibility of the scenario she had just witnessed, despite the growing doubtful feelings that had begun to take root at the back of her mind, she smiled.

"I've got you now, Gold Fighter."

Author's Note: A quick message regarding the story arc and where I'm going with it. There was one reviewer who expressed concern over the fact that I had Gohan reveal himself too early in the story. To be honest, I think Gohan being as secretive as he was in the Great Saiyaman saga was just plain out of character. While it is understandable that he would wish to protect the interests of his family, not only does his family live 500 miles away but Gohan has always has an innately trusting nature about him. Fanfiction represents 'what-if' scenarios; in these scenarios there is no specific right or wrong. There's just good and bad writing. To not explain and justify Gohan's behaviour is bad writing, and so I have taken steps to rectify this in this chapter. I hope you find them acceptable.

I can safely say from here I will be deviating from the story a fair bit, I'll try to justify these changes within the text itself however if anyone has any particular questions please let me know and I'll do my best to answer them for you. Thank you for the feedback that has been made so far guy, I appreciate it. I don't have any particular plan in mind for these characters, I mainly intend to just keep writing and see what I can come up with. Cross your fingers and hope it's good!


	3. The ledge

Erasa was a chronic over-sleeper; her mother often scolded her for it but well, how do you solve a problem like over-sleeping? Alarms didn't work, the twelve glasses of water before bed trick didn't work, short of investing in an electroshock machine both Erasa and her family had simply resigned themselves to her fate. Every now and again though, she would rise to the occasion; typically though it took either a smoke alarm or a car crash outside to achieve this.

Today happened to be one of those days, although there was no fire and there was certainly no traffic accident; instead there was a hum. Steady and quiet at first, it grew in volume and intensity to resemble a roar, a roar situated directly outside her window at seven-thirty in the morning. Yawning, mumbling, bleary-eyed, Erasa trudged sullenly over to the window, ready to explode at whoever – or whatever – had caused the disturbance. As much as one can expect to compare to such a noise, anyway.

It's possible, perhaps even probable that you've never pulled back a curtain to find a jet copter staring you in the face. Rest assured in most cases, it's nothing short of terrifying. This case was no exception; Erasa's screams might have been audible had it not been for the copter causing them. Because her of her surprise, it in fact took her a while to notice exactly who was piloting the vehicle.

It was Videl.

v

"You know, you're lucky I change clothes as much as I do. Other people would have taken twice as long as I did, and you don't really seem to be a patient one today."

"Really? Was using a jet copter engine to wake you up too obvious a hint?"

"I think Mum would have been happy to see me up for a change if she hadn't been busy wishing you were some place far away."

"Ah, I can get in her bad books this one time; what's life without variety?"

"I guess we could ask a goldfish."

"Wait wait, stop distracting me! I saw something last night, something pretty crazy."

"Go on." Erasa figured she best cut her sentences short a bit; Videl looked rather concerned at the moment. The jet copter punched its way through the skyline, leaving a dim trail of smoke behind it that dissipated amongst the clouds as it went.

"I pulled out the old Cell Games footage from my dad's videos and had a look, do you remember how there was a small boy involved in the fighting?"

"Yeah, I remember him looking like he was our age."

"Right, and what colour hair did he have?"

"You don't think?"

"I do. It makes sense after all, it's not like the fight took place far from here. But there was something else too. Do you remember anything about the actual fighting on the television?"

"...Not really, no."

"Well, let me tell you this: whoever it was fighting Cell, they were good. Really good."

"Better than your dad good?"

"I...I think so."

"But then why did the others lose?"

"Maybe they didn't."

"...What do you mean they didn't? You can't tell me that you honestly believe your father would lie to everyone in the entire world about saving it, can you?"

"Hear me out. Look, I don't want to believe it, why would I? He's my father, not yours. But the way those others fought...it was almost literally unbelievable. I watched it and re-watched it and re-watched it again, but none of it seemed fake. The broadcast was live, after all." It was only now that Erasa saw the slump in Videl's eyelids; she'd clearly been up all night, "My dad is a very talented martial artist, he's the strongest in the world. But these guys were doing all sorts of things that are simply out of this world. They could fly, Erasa, and there was this light around them all the time and they could fire it from their hands! It was too much to be make-believe; there simply has to be some truth to it."

"Okay, let's assume that what you're saying is actually true here – and that doesn't mean I think it is! But assuming it is, why would everyone have believed your dad for all this time?"

Videl paused for a moment, clearly she'd been thinking this very same question over herself last night. "I guess humanity just needed something to believe in."

The two sat in silence as the copter continued its flight pattern unabated.

v

Every student who shared at least one class with Videl Satan knew the sound by now; the alarm emitted by her wristwatch whenever her services were required by the police force. At first they had reacted with a significant amount of worry; what's happened now, are we going to be okay, et cetera. After endless repetitions of the same cycle however – Videl gets informed of situation, Videl runs out of classroom, Videl saves the day – the students had become indifferent to the sound. Such was the case today; Videl had just run out of the classroom to the understanding nod of the teacher and the blank, expectant states of the student body. Well, the student body save one.

"What's wrong with her, is she sick?" Gohan asked.

"No silly, she went to fight the hijackers!" She glanced over at Gohan's face and saw the apparent shock. It was kinda funny, but not at all surprising; he lived a bit too far away to be in the know about these sort of things.

"All by herself?"

"Of course, I mean, she is the daughter of Mr. Satan you know. She's always going out there and saving us from the nasties."

"But that's not safe!"

"There's really no need to worry, Gohan," Sharpener interjected, "Videl can lift even more weights than I can. She's been training her whole life and some say she's as strong as her father now."

Gohan couldn't help but cast his mind into the past at the comparison. He remembered Hercule Satan being there one second and then gone the next, flung carelessly by Cell at a nearby mountain range. He remembered Hercule Satan cowering in fear and incredulousness at the display of power in front of him. He remembered Hercule Satan shamelessly taking the credit for a fight he had barely even been involved in, let alone dominated in the way he suggested.

'I'm more worried she's as weak as her father.' He thought to himself, and with a slightly feeble-sounding bathroom excuse he was out the door, already beginning to reign his thoughts in to focus on the task at hand. He was in no way worried about thwarting the criminals; Satan City wasn't exactly a hotbed of superhuman power. But that wasn't his real goal here; his goal was to keep Videl out of harm's way. His thoughts had carried him up to the roof of the school building. After a quick look to either side to confirm he was alone, Gohan pressed a small, red button on his wristwatch.

The transformation was as immediate as it was effective. Nobody who saw him now would have identified him as even a high school student, let alone by name. Gone were his typical red pants, white shirt and black vest; instead the black covered most of his body, from his boots to his sleeveless dogi. Across his eyes he wore a simple black sash; Bulma had said she got the idea from the Legend of Zorro repeat that had aired on television the other day, and indeed given that the entire transformation mechanism was her invention she felt she was allowed a little artistic license.

That said though, the idea to keep the outfit primarily black belonged to Gohan, as he felt it would allow his hair to stand in better contrast. As it glowed and pulsated with a sharp, vivid gold, nobody would be able to mistake this figure for the one who had stopped a bank robbery only the day before. The Gold Fighter had finally arrived.

He closed his eyes for a moment, searching across the wide expanse of the city to try and locate her life force. It didn't take long; like most martial artists Videl possessed stronger vital signs than the average person. His target acquired, the Gold Fighter hovered in the air momentarily before taking off at a decidedly inhuman speed. After all, that was what the Gold Fighter was meant to be: inhuman.

v

If Videl had to pinpoint a moment where the operation had gone wrong, it would have been when the bus fell off the cliff. Obviously she hadn't meant for it to happen, but as the ground rose up to meet the vehicle it became rather apparent that her own intentions would hardly matter; all that mattered was the permanency of it all. In a few short seconds, she was pretty confident none of them would be alive.

She could feel her weight being pressed upwards by the forces of inertia, her face refusing to turn to either side due to the sheer forces of gravity she was operating against. Still, she could sense the emotions coming from the elderly passengers: fear, terror, and in one or two isolated cases resignation. Perhaps they believed they'd lived long enough, and after all, if you have to go, surely dying in a tragic bus accident beats dying peacefully in your sleep?

The biggest insult, of course, was that the hijackers wouldn't feel the pain of the impact; their bodies still limp & unmoving from their altercation with Videl not two minutes ago. It had been an average fight for her; the numbers might have been skewed but these guys were as talentless as any other Satan City thug, it didn't take much to knock them out. She kinda wished she hadn't at this point.

The ground came ever closer, the cracks & crevices in the dry soil becoming clearer & clearer; the seconds were really starting to drag now, not that that was a bad thing. Videl's thought began to move away from the tumult surrounding her, away from the bus and the rocks and the immediacy of the situation and instead focused on the names & faces she wished were there right now. Her father, Erasa, Sharpener even. But behind them all there was…

Gohan?

Videl's thoughts were interrupted by a white flash and a rush of wind. Suddenly, amazingly, the bus levelled out to its traditional position and slowed to a halt. Everyone remained slumped against the back wall for a moment, taking stock of what possibly could have happened to them. Videl was the first to rise – not at all surprising given her company – and the first to rush over to the window to see just what possibly could have caused their survival. It didn't take long for the others to join her though; elderly or not coming as close to death as they had tends to energise you. They all craned their heads downwards in a synchronised swoop, collectively seeking out something amongst the monochromatic backdrop. It didn't take long.

The Gold Fighter met their awestruck glances and smiled, both hands calmly holding the bus in mid-air.

v

"Haven't screamed like that in years!"

"This was a very good tour!"

"Like a rollercoaster, it was!"

The bus was now perched on solid ground, and the panic that had enveloped the people on it was replaced by relief, slowly giving way to excitement. The elderly passengers chattered amongst themselves; a couple of them talked about how after being cooped up in the retirement home for so long they'd be the ones telling the story. Videl however was focused on other things, namely the man standing in front of them all. It was pretty plain to see who he was - how many golden-haired men with superhuman abilities existed in Satan City after all? – but Videl felt herself instinctually say the words regardless.

"Who are you?"

The Gold Fighter smiled in the same way he had before. There was a smugness, no, an assuredness to it; beyond simply being sure of himself he clearly felt that he possessed a heightened awareness of things, like he had almost known what she was going to say before she said it. Could you read that much into a smile? Videl couldn't really say, but it didn't stop her jumping to conclusions.

"Come with me, I'll show you." He replied, his arms uncrossing as he did so. Videl was hardly one to go running off with strangers, but then again, most strangers don't save busloads of people from certain destruction. And besides, she already knew her curiosity was bound to get the better of her; if she didn't say yes, she'd probably spend a fair few days annoyed at herself for not having said yes.

The elderly passengers standing around her grinned approval, their attention now on the two younger people amongst them. Warily, she approached and stood in front of him, her back facing his front allowing him to place his arms around her. Videl was clearly not completely comfortable with being at his mercy; What if he wanted to eliminate the competition? What if he just tossed her aside mid-flight? Mid-flight…the Gold Fighter could fly! She would get to fly! Suddenly much like had happened before, panic gave way to excitement.

As if on cue, the two rose in unison and floated off into the air, the people remaining on the ground waving at them appreciatively as they began to clamour back on board the bus to head home. Videl turned away from them and looked around her, trying her best to keep her eyes open against the winds that were blowing against her. She was hardly a stranger to viewing the world from great heights, having her own jet copter and all. But there was something so liberating about being able to fly unencumbered by a machine. Something so…natural, if that were possible. Or at all sensible.

Videl couldn't turn her head far enough to get a good read on the Gold Fighter; presumably he did this every day though and was rather used to it. How you could "get used" to such a feeling was beyond her though; a flock of seagulls darted past them, resolute in their direction and speed, and the sidelong gust of wind that signalled their passing filler Videl with delight. Any thoughts of the Gold Fighter's potential evil agenda or the like was gone, and instead she felt nothing but the dizzying heights of her own experience.

It wasn't long until the trip was over however, and the Gold Fighter brought the two down on a rocky outcrop, far away from the highway where the hijacking had taken place; in fact, it seemed to be far away from anything at all. Videl held her hand up to her eyes to look for anything that stood out against the dull landscape. There was only one noticeable anomaly; a grey, stone monolith that jutted out from the ground. It was close enough to them that it was possible to see the dents and holes and gradual erosion that had eaten away at it over time.

"This is where the Cell Games took place seven years ago."

Videl turned to look at the Gold Fighter, and quite surprised by his statement. "But the arena is nowhere near here! It's in that direc…" She paused, finger poised as if to signal a bearing until she realised she didn't have her bearings herself.

"The arena you're talking about is an imitation, Satan City Council wanted something closer to the city so that people could visit it. The actual Games were designed to be held as far from the city as possible; Cell didn't want bystanders injured during the proceedings. He wanted to save that pleasure for himself afterwards."

"You were there." She'd considered phrasing it as a question, but after what she'd seen last night and what she'd heard today it was pretty obvious that all she was doing right now was stating the obvious.

The Gold Fighter came to stand beside her, both of them staring out over the outcrop, the wind still breezing across their faces, their hair whipping through it the only sound that could be heard. Suddenly Videl turned to face him, and he followed suit. Her eyes narrowed, trying to look beyond the mask, beyond the subtle glow that seemed to surround him, beyond the teals of his irises and tried to see just who she was talking to. Her attempts were fruitless.

"Who are you?" She asked once more.

The silence lasted a second, then two, then three. Videl began to wonder if the Gold Fighter had an answer for her but before her thoughts could go any further, he reached his hands behind his head and untied the knot that held the mask there. Pulling it away with one hand, Videl was met with a face that while now uncovered, still in no way seemed familiar to her. The face was one that seemed to her to suggest the power that the Gold Fighter was capable of displaying; his eyebrows were arched and echoed the colour of his hair, his cheekbones were prominent, his forehead lined with the life experience of someone far older than he looked. Indeed he looked young; Videl felt some internal satisfaction at the fact that he looked about seven years older than the boy in the video. It was clearly him, even if he'd nearly said as much.

He laid down on the ground now, one arm tucked behind his head to cushion it as he motioned for her to join him. She did so, the synchronicity of their gazes now directed towards the sky and the clouds and the occasional bird that interrupted the endless blues and whites. Had Videl been looking at him, she might have seen him smile.

"I suppose I should tell you, it won't take long before you put two and two together."

"What do you mean?"

"New student comes to high school right in the middle of the year, new superhero starts fighting crime. Said student decides to go for a one-hour long "bathroom break" while you're off fighting crime. To be honest, if I hadn't secretly wanted someone to find out I probably would have put a bit more thought into everything."

"Wait a minute, don't tell me."

And as Videl looked over to her left to get another good look at the Gold Fighter, she found her suspicions were confirmed. Lying where he had been only moments ago was a black-haired teenager wearing a white shirt, a black vest, and red pants. He looked over at her as well, their eyes meeting once again. Where the Gold Fighter's had been weathered and vivid, his were calmer and more at peace. He smiled also, only this one was not the smile of a superhero but rather a smile that conveyed a general contentedness with the world.

"Hiya."

Videl's immediate reaction was one of triumph; she sat up instantaneously. "I knew it! I knew it was you!"

"To be fair, I didn't exactly try very hard to deny it."

"You're not taking this away from me, Gohan. I pride myself on my deductive reasoning."

"Alright Videl, I'm really proud of you, you've done some really good work today!" He let the sarcasm ooze through his teeth, and Videl caught onto it right away, scowling at him.

"Hey, quiet you! I'm pretty sure stopping a trio of bus hijackers counts as good work enough."

"Fine, I'll give you that."

The silence began to take hold once more.

"…Gohan, what is all this? What are you exactly?"

He considered her words carefully, his brow furrowed. "Are you sure you want to know?"

She didn't reply in words, she just nodded her head emphatically. From how he sounded, it almost seemed as if there was going to be something in this that he wasn't sure she would understand, or that perhaps she wasn't meant to. Videl Satan was hardly one to run away from a challenge though, and this seemed to be presenting a fairly good challenge to her psyche.

Gohan again motioned for her to lie down, and she did so. Without asking he took her hand and interlaced their fingers, clasping them tightly. Videl looked over at him, briefly wondering if this was all an elaborate ploy to make out with her or something similar. But as soon as the thought entered her head it was gone, the rest of the world gone with it. A swirl of images raced past her; at first they were too quick to make out but before long they began to resemble distinct events. The sights and sounds were vibrant and bracing, almost to the point of unreality. Everything around her had adopted a glossy sheen, wind and smoke and heat combining together to form an elemental cocktail that distorted her senses.

She could still feel Gohan's hand in hers, both of them looking in the same direction once more. Right in front of them was a bright, pulsating orb that glowed blue and white, much like the sky they had been looking at before. However where that had been serene, this was almost violent; only now did she notice the two persons at either end causing the phenomena. One was Cell, and the other was Gohan; she knew this. Behind Cell there stood four other fighters, and smaller, yellow-coloured beams were coming from them towards Cell. It was obvious however that they were completely ineffectual, Cell remaining focused on the task at hand.

Videl felt compelled to go and help them, but she found that she was unable to move her feet. She pulled and struggled and strained but they simply wouldn't move an inch. She turned to Gohan, the Gohan beside her, as if looking for some sort of possible explanation for all this, and was met with a conciliatory squeeze of her hand.

"Just keep watching."

She turned back just in time to see a man floating high above Cell launch an attack of his own against him. It took only a few seconds to happen, but from what Videl could gather, that one attack distracted Cell long enough to allow Gohan to overtake him. Cell's body had disappeared, lost in a blue orb that had grown to absorb him. In between the background hum and the rushes of wind, Videl faintly heard the sounds of his voice screaming in agony and withering away. The blue light disappeared, leaving nothing but a crater in its wake. Gohan collapsed to the floor, and her entire field of vision went blank.

It took a bit of time for her eyes to slowly flutter open, the comparatively bright lights of the everyday taking her by surprise as she placed her hand over her eyes to shield them from it. Immediately she took it away, and realised that Gohan was no longer holding onto it; instead, he was seated on a rock not a metre or so away, looking at her attentively.

"It's only been a couple of minutes, in case you were wondering. I wasn't too sure whether I should wake you or not." He'd seemed so carefree before, but now he seemed to speak out of genuine concern. She sat up slowly, taking stock of what she'd just witnessed.

"So, that was you…"

"Yeah."

"Beating Cell…"

"…yeah."

"And my father didn't…"

"No."

"But you did."

"Yeah."

Gohan came over and sat beside her, as thought he was pre-empting her need for comforting. But Videl was really too shocked to need any such thing, she just sat there blinking profusely, wide-eyed and mystified. Slowly, she turned her face to Gohan and sighed deliberately before speaking:

"Okay…okay. Why don't you dial it back a little and start from the beginning."

Author's Note: A couple of weeks longer between chapters this time, blame university being back on I suppose. It also means the outlook for the future isn't particularly rosy, but there'll be more to come, don't you worry. This was a hard chapter to write, there's probably a reason the writers of the show kinda glossed over the whole explanation part in their relationship. But hopefully I've done a good enough job of justifying a few things: specifically, Gohan's reasons for reaching out to someone, Videl's reaction to the news, and humanity's reasons for taking Hercule at his word. These are tough problems to resolve, and a lot of people have tried to do so. With any luck my solutions are good enough to rank alongside the better ones.

I think I'm also subconsciously getting the backstory out of the way because I don't really want it clouding what I anticipate will be one badass relationship. And while I am here to provide my own take on events, I'm also here because I really, really like the pairing. But hey, at least I got them to hold hands, right?e Hw


	4. Can't hardly wait

Everyone liked Miss Dempsey's lessons; even the kids who didn't particularly care much for literature couldn't help but get caught up in the excitement. She'd spent much of her youth cavorting about, getting into trouble with the authorities and just generally doing things you didn't really assume teachers would do. As a result, she often managed to tell great stories, and today was no exception; she'd just finished up telling the class about a homosexual friend of hers who had taken so many different substances at once that they all leaked out the side of his face in a greasy, grimy, sludgy pustule the next day.

Did I say great stories? I guess that depends on your disposition.

Not that there's anything wrong with teaching teenagers about moderation, mind.

Erasa had to hold her hand to her mouth, the detail Miss Dempsey went into was usually quite entertaining, but not so much this time around. She took a glance at the other students in the classroom and saw that there were a few who shared her visceral reaction to the tale, although there were many others who seemed unfazed, fascinated even. Mostly boys; typical.

As they looked towards their teacher with rapt attention, Erasa allowed her mind to wander; really she should have done this at the first utterance of the word "pulsating". Turning her head towards the window, its pane reflecting the sunlight dimly enough to look through and beyond, off across the cityscape, she wondered where Videl and Gohan were. It had been more than two hours since the two ran off, not together but sort of? Erasa didn't really know what to make of that; they were _probably_ doing something together but even then, it would have been considered a bold move if Erasa had been the one running off with Gohan, but Videl? It was more or less out of the equation.

Maybe they weren't eloping then. Maybe they were…nope, Erasa tended to have a pretty one-track mind when it came to boy-girl interaction (except for Sharpener, evidently). But it wasn't completely crazy, or at least, she didn't think it was; it wasn't exactly difficult to see that Gohan was mildly attractive – he was hardly going to set the school ablaze but he was definitely above average – and she had heard one or two people mention that they'd seen the two sitting together after school on his first day. Come to think of it, she'd meant to ask Videl about that one.

From the corner of her eye Erasa noticed Miss Dempsey had begun to write lines from a poem on the board. Something about an albatross and a crossbow, but it was one of those sort of poems where you had to really focus to actually understand just what was going on. Erasa gave up her mental transgression and returned her thoughts to the classroom, sighing at the prospect of textual analysis. Whatever Gohan and Videl were up to, she couldn't learn anything more about it until the school bell rang.

Usually it happens that if you really want time to pass, it doesn't. You'll end up sitting there watching the clock instead, hoping that sheer willpower can force the second hand further and further onwards on its endless journey; all this really does it draw your attention to the passing of time though, and that's when starts to drag. Peoples' movements become lumbering and cumbersome and thought processes that once occurred at lightning speed now seem to halt at every individual machination. If you saw a hummingbird, you'd probably be able to discern each individual wing movement it makes. All of this is to say that Erasa was very, very lucky that there wasn't a clock in the classroom, because her own navigation of time that afternoon went ahead without incident, and before long the bell did in fact ring to signal the end of the day. As if on cue, she sped out of the classroom towards the car park to await Sharpener's arrival. However unlike most days she didn't have to await anything; he was standing beside the red-panelled doors, as if he was expecting her.

"This isn't like you."

"I guess a lot of us are acting out of character today then. I saw the exact same thing you saw in the classroom and I already know you're planning to gush at me all about it. At least this way you won't be giving me an excuse for my terrible driving." He smiled at her sheepishly.

As the two walked to the car together, the doors swinging violently in their wake, Erasa felt pleasantly surprised by Sharpener's understanding of her.

v

It was already evening, and the sun was beginning to fall behind the horizon, shadowy trails of trees and rocks and buildings and cars all beginning to drag on towards the point of intersection, lengthening and extending until they enveloped their surroundings, and then it was dark. Gohan and Videl had watched as this entire process took place, but neither could have described it to you in any amount of detail; they were too far gone, enveloped by their own web of words and stories.

In Gohan's defence it was a long story, and not in any way an easy one to tell. After all, you do you describe a ki attack to a person who's never even heard of the concept before? How do you describe far-off planets and their inhabitants when Earth is someone's entire known world? Can someone really suspend their disbelief to such a high level and still take in the complete recount of events that Gohan was giving to Videl just now?

The answer seemed to be an almost disarmingly resolute "Yes". Gohan had expected denial, stubbornness, anger even. What he was met with instead was calm, but intense fascination; Videl's eyes seemed fixated on him, widening and shrinking almost in time with the kicks & punches Gohan was describing to her. Finally the sun disappeared completely, and the stars came into full view, doing the best they could to match the sun's illuminations. Gohan's words too began to disappear.

"That all happened seven years ago, but I guess you knew that bit already. Things have been pretty quiet since then for all of us, but I think we're all glad for the change of pace." Gohan paused as his hand snaked behind his head; he'd never really thought how he was going to go about ending it all. Up until that point he'd been very happy with his re-telling of events, but when it comes down to it it's the ending that people remember the most. He cleared his throat quietly, and continued.

"Well! That's a fair bit to take in for one sitting, I know. I imagine you've probably got at least this one question though: Why did Hercule do what he did?"

Videl took a moment to respond, her eyes blinking in rapid succession once she had acknowledged it was her turn to speak. "Replace the Hercule with 'Dad' and you're pretty much there." She replied with a little smile, trying to delay the onset of doubt, shock & all other associated emotions that was no doubt going to follow this conversation.

Gohan smiled back at her; she had taken it all far better than he could possibly have dreamed. "I probably don't really need to add this part, but it's worth saying that I don't actually know exactly what he was thinking at the time; I might be able to do some pretty cool things but mind reading isn't one of them. The theory we've collectively come up with though is this: Hercule came to, looked around and noticed that there was nobody left; we'd all flown away by this point. The camera crew was still there however, along with his own students, and they all wanted answers. To be honest, the entire world wanted answers, and all of us knew that; we just didn't want to have to deal with the aftermath.

"Videl, have you ever felt overwhelmed by your own fame? I know I would if I was in your position, but then again I suppose you're talking to a kid who lives 500 miles away from the nearest city here. The fact remains though, we all saw it as a burden that we could do without. Maybe it's a genetic thing as well; from what I've gathered, Saiyans traditionally fought for the battle itself moreso than the spoils it offered. In any case, we decided amongst ourselves it wasn't for us.

"Which bring us right back to your Dad. Here he stood, with the collective weight of the world on his shoulders, microphone in front of his face, having answers asked of him that even if he had truthful answers for, he couldn't offer any sort of satisfactory proof, and to the regular person these would have seemed like some pretty crazy answers. If a week ago someone had told you people could fly and shoot light out of their hands, how would you reply?

"If you had to break it down to its core components, I guess he was partially acting in his own self-interest, but also to some degree in the interests of people at large. People know Hercule, they trust him, they believed that he could do it. To assign the victory to a band of mysterious, heretofore unknown strangers that possessed superpowers would be more than just flat unbelievable; it'd be career suicide. He'd be labelled crazy, a victim of brain damage from flying debris during the Cell Games or something similar. There's no concrete right or wrong actions in situations such as these. Your Dad took one road, but it's not for me or any of my friends to comment on the morality of said road. All we can do is say he took it, and appreciate the effects of his decision."

Gohan's words hung in the air for a moment before dispersing into the now cool night, being replaced by silence. Above all other things, this was perhaps the most important point he could make to her. Regardless of how all these revelations would affect her perception of himself, he didn't want to be responsible for any bad blood between her and Hercule, or worse, estrangement. He tried not to think of such things.

After a little while longer, Videl piped up, again the hints of a smile playing across her features, although this time Gohan could swear she seemed more at ease than before: "Did you think I wouldn't figure that out for myself?"

"I hoped, but I was hardly going to leave it to chance! Father-daughter relationships are pretty serious business, you know. Actually I guess I can only comment on father-son relationships really."

"They're pretty similar; less "pull-my-finger" jokes though, so they tend to be a bit better overall."

"You're very lucky, then."

"I know, I know." Videl responded as she took stock of her current position in life for the first time in a long time, and realised perhaps just how lucky she was. Her own father was alive, for one.

"Hey, Videl. You okay?"

She looked up to see Gohan's eyes on her, not laden with the concern that had been glazed over them throughout most of his talking but instead with simple inquisitiveness. It was a nice change, all things considered. "Yeah, I'm okay."

The two smiled at each other once more; they seemed to have done a lot of that just now.

"Cool."

v

"That's your house?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, it's massive!"

"I guess anything seems massive compared to a hut in the sticks though."

"Hey! It has a rustic charm, I'm telling you!"

"And I'm believing you! But for the time being, I'll stick with my multi-storey mansion if that's alright by you."

"The balconies probably have a great view of the city."

"Not really as good as I'm getting from up here, but it's pretty nice. On the topic, could you let me down on my balcony? It's a bit late to be bugging Michael."

"Michael?"

"The security guy."

"Well I like that you're on a first name basis with the servantry; all the rich people on TV just snap their fingers instead of using names."

"I do have a heart, believe it or not Gohan! Oh, down on that balcony there, directly above the fountain."

"Sure thing, Ma'am."

"Ma'am?"

"Oh, I'm considering trying out for a spot on your house staff. I figured I could be your chauffeur."

"I know that's a joke, but really I wouldn't say no if you asked; I can't get over this. We're flying, flying! People have spent centuries dreaming about flight, theorising, writing stories about it, dedicating their lives to putting people into the air. And here you are, hanging out with the clouds and barely even having to put any effort into the task, it's amazing. How can you do it so thoughtlessly?"

"After ten years the novelty begins to wear off, I suppose. It's a bit like walking after this long."

"I can see where you're coming from, but I certainly don't agree."

"Fair enough. I remember the first time I flew, it really gives you a level of appreciation for the enormity of the planet we live on."

"Yeah, it really does."

"Well, here's your stop Ma'am."

"You know you'd make a pretty good chauffeur, I've got a spare hat or two lying around if ever you want to consider moonlighting as one."

"Oh I would but my hair doesn't agree with hats all too much."

"A noble reason, to be sure."

"Hey Videl."

"Yeah?"

"If you can't get to sleep because you're up thinking about stuff, call me."

"My my, you're awfully presumptuous Gohan."

"It's a lot to take in for one day, and that's not even including the calculus lesson we had this morning either."

"Oh right, that. Yeah I'm kinda writing off the stuff we were taught today, other things have taken priority."

"Fair enough. Well, I guess I should be getting home myself then; my mother's probably worried sick."

"I'll see you tomorrow though, right?"

"Right."

Gohan looked up at the sky, about to take flight once more.

"Oh, and Gohan."

He looked back at Videl, who was leaning casually against the glass door leading into her bedroom, her face showing none of the signs he would have expected it to after hearing so much new information. "What is it?"

"Thank you for everything. I know this was a big thing for you to do, and it's going to be a big thing for me to take in entirely. But I'll let you know now, that I don't think you're strange, and I don't hate my father for what he did."

Now it was Gohan's turn to look relieved.

"Oh, and thank you for talking to me on the phone later tonight." Videl added with a wry smile; already Gohan knew he'd be up most of the night.

"No problem. Goodnight, Videl."

"Goodnight, Gohan."

Author's Note: Shorter chapter this time, but it allows the explanation to take centre stage at least. Man, that was hard to write. Seriously, I struggled with this chapter for a long time, which explains the delayed release, so sorry about that. In the end, I just stayed up and punched it all out in one sitting, but I don't think that detracts from the overall quality of it.

The conversation piece at the end is a bit of a deviation from how I've written things before now, as is to a degree the overall tone of the writing this time around (I'm like Skynet, I'm growing self-aware). But with this story I'm trying to address what seems to me to be a key flaw in a lot of fanfiction, in that it deals primarily with plots as opposed to characters. Fanfiction by and large revolves around "what if" scenarios and alternate universes, and that's all well and good but it almost always works to the detriment of characterisation.

With this story I'm hoping to construct characters that you all enjoy reading, and that you care about on their own merits, as opposed to simply because they represent characters in that TV show you like. I don't know if I've actually done that so far but you know, fingers crossed!

In any case, thank you to all of you who are reading this story. I know this chapter took a while to come out and I'm sorry about that, but good things come to those who wait etc. etc. But now we're starting to move past the initial hurdles and the four key characters can really start to intermingle and relationships can really start to get a move on. This chapter should have given some indication as to how the characters are going to interact, expect plenty more where that came from!

Also, bonus points to anyone who gets where all the chapter titles/title for the actual story came from. It's a bit obscure but that's what makes it cool, right?


End file.
